


Drive past the night

by idk_ilike5sos



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Good Theo Raeken, Hurt/Comfort, Liam Dunbar Needs a Hug, M/M, Sad Liam Dunbar, Stressed Liam Dunbar, Studying, Theo Raeken is Liam Dunbar's Anchor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29165127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idk_ilike5sos/pseuds/idk_ilike5sos
Summary: On Liam's way home from a stressful day at school he's stopped by a familiar blue truck and given a lift...
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 4
Kudos: 84





	Drive past the night

**Author's Note:**

> Edited and beta read 🖤

Splatters of rain hit the bus shelter with small taps as cars drove past Liam, not cautious of puddles or the pedestrians near them. By the time he'd finally scraped his feet from school to the bus stop, the sky held a deep night impression and the moon bounced off of reflective surfaces, shining some of the only light around.

The day had been long. The _week_ had been long, and they were only three days in. Lacrosse season had started, exams and pop quizzes were being thrown at him from all directions, and his mom's work shifts were practically doubled. If he wasn't practicing or studying, he was alone: the worst of the three.

To say the least, he was both physically and mentally exhausted; pressure was lurking around every corner for multiple reasons and he had no outlet.

Liam stared down the street in hopes of spotting a bus he somehow didn't hear, but as expected, all he saw was a few approaching cars. He tapped his foot impatiently, he didn't have time for this; he needed to be at Mason's house within the hour or he wouldn't have any time to study before a test the following day.

He gulped and sucked in his bottom lip as his gaze fell back to the wet concrete. The rain had left him soaked to the bone and cold enough to fear frostbite, but he'd managed to convince himself it wasn't a good enough excuse to just go home.

A vehicle slowed in front of the stop and when Liam peered up to see why he was greeted by a window of a blue truck being rolled down.

"Get in," Theo called out.

"Huh?" Liam frowned. He and Theo weren't exactly friends, so it didn't make sense why he was willing to get him out of the rain.

"Come on, I'll give you a lift." Theo gestured his head back and pressed a button that did the window up.

Liam didn't wait to be told again, mostly through worry of Theo changing his mind, and picked up his school bag. He got into the passenger seat of the truck he was too familiar with and dropped it by his feet, closing the door and buckling his seatbelt.

"Where to?" Theo started the truck and pulled away from the curb.

_Mason's house._

"Home… please." There was nothing more he wanted than to go home and sleep the rest of the day away.

The first five or so minutes passed with silence, since - _as mentioned_ \- they weren't friends.

"Why'd it take so long to leave school?" Theo finally asked, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. It gave Liam a sense that he didn't care.

"Lacrosse practice." Liam watched as trees and various buildings passed the passenger window.

"That's started already?" Even during his time at Beacon Hills High or when trying to get close to Scott, Theo had never shown any attentiveness to lacrosse. Liam had no doubt that he'd be good at it - possibly as good as he was or better, even - but he guessed it just wasn't an interest of his.

"Started a few weeks ago," he grumbled, noticing Theo make a few quick glances at him.

"How's it been?" Theo asked, more hesitantly.

Liam shrugged. "Fine."

"Really?" Theo raised his eyebrows at him, clearly unconvinced.

"No." He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling he could be honest with Theo this time. Besides, he could tell when he was lying anyway, so what was the point of doing so?

"What happened?" For the most part, Theo was primarily watching Liam now, with only short glimpses at the road.

"Nothing, it's–" He looked up at Theo properly for the first time since getting in the truck and found only comfort and concern buried in his eyes, "–just a lot."

Theo nodded. Then he continued, speaking unusually softly, "Is that all? Just lacrosse?"

"No." Liam squirmed in his seat. "It's also grades, which for me requires a lot of studying to pass."

Liam didn't know why he was bothering Theo with the burden of his life problems. Theo didn't care for lacrosse, he was one of the smartest people Liam knew, and he didn't tend to keep anyone close enough to be fazed when they left: yet, he listened. Liam began explaining each of his issues in more detail than he thought he could and he just let him.

At last though, Theo pulled up to Liam's house. This time, Liam was only momentarily stunned to see no lights on through the windows.

"If you want, I can help you study." Theo twisted his key and turned off the ignition.

"Really?" Liam said with relief as a fraction of the weight on his shoulders lifted.

"Yeah, why not?" He shrugged.

"Great!" He gleamed, "How's right now for you?"

Theo laughed. "Sure."

The two got out of the truck and wandered through the house to Liam's bedroom. When entering his room, Liam noticed Theo pause in the doorway - staring directly at the dozens of jumbled up paper on his desk. "You've really been overworking yourself, huh?"

"It's necessary."

Theo looked back at him. "It's still not healthy."

That didn't matter to Liam though: he was willing to surpass countless sleepless nights if it meant he was getting everything done, if he was making his parents proud.

"What do you need help with?" Theo came into the room and sat at the flooded desk.

"Chemistry."

Theo nodded. "Uh-huh, pass me something that tells me what you've been looking at and I'll get myself familiarized whilst you change into something that doesn't make you smell like wet dog."

Liam scoffed as a genuine smile rose on his lips, the first in a long time. He dug through his bag before finding a textbook and tossed it to Theo. "Page 109."

He walked round his bed to his closet, and then chose some clothes then went into the bathroom to change. When he returned Theo was writing things down on a piece of lined paper.

"What're you doing?" Liam leaned against his desk and watched.

"Writing out questions for you to answer so I know what to look at first," He mumbled half-heartedly. _Right… studying._

After writing out seven questions, Theo put the pencil down and stood up. Liam replaced him in the chair and looked at the questions in front of him. It was like trying to understand a foreign language.

"What we're going to do–" Liam eagerly let his sight divert from the paper up to Theo's face. "–is you're going to answer them to the best of your ability and we're going to study for half an hour, then we're going to have a ten minute break. After the break, we'll study again for half an hour and repeat the process… and by the end of tonight, I can promise you you'll know the answer to all of those questions."

Theo was a lot nicer with no one else around. Liam knew he was safe with him. Not just in a life or death way, but in a _"I feel like I can tell you anything without being judged"_ kind of way. It felt good.

"Got it?" Theo raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for Liam to protest.

"Got it." Liam nodded.

The night played out as Theo had explained. Every thirty minutes they'd completely detach themselves from work by either getting food or playing video games. Any stress inducing thoughts were able to easily slip from Liam's brain at an instance. By the time the clock read 7pm Liam decided he was ready, Theo rewrote the questions and he attempted answering them again.

Theo peered up at him with a smirk when ticking the last question. "You got them all."

"Yes!" Liam yelled triumphantly.

Theo laughed. "Told you you could do it."

"Well I wouldn't have been able to without your help," Liam grinned at the boy next to him. "Seriously, thank you."

But before Theo even got a chance to consider replying, Liam had cupped the side of his face and leaned in to kiss him. Only when needing to recatch his breath, Liam pulled away - though leaving merely an inch between their faces.

"Uh," Liam gulped, "You should help me study more often."

Theo chuckled and pulled Liam in again. Only seconds had passed when they were interrupted by two knocks hitting Liam's open bedroom door. The two parted, to see Liam's mom stood in the doorway.

"I hate to be one to ruin your fun, but it's a school night," She exclaimed, trying and failing to not smile through her pursed lips.

"Right, sorry, I was just leaving," Theo said rather than leaving Liam, who was completely frozen out of embarrassment, to answer.

"Uh-huh." She nodded.

Theo stood up and started leaving the room.

"I'll walk you out." Liam followed him outside to his truck.

"Well..." Theo said.

"Tonight definitely didn't end how I expected it to," Liam laughed nervously. He hadn't anticipated straying away from his original plan of studying with Mason and Corey, let alone expect to be kissing Theo in his bedroom and his mom walking in.

"Yeah, me neither."

"You should definitely come over and help me study more often, though… and I don't just mean that so we can kiss again. You've seriously helped me out tonight in multiple ways." He confessed.

Theo smiled softly. "You've got my number, call me whenever you need anything."

"You too."

**Author's Note:**

> Well, as Lydia and Stiles said... studying never means just studying 😉
> 
> This was very fun to create. It somehow feels very different (but also not) to what I usually write, and it felt good to slightly breach more out of my comfort zone as such. I'm currently in the process of writing a bunch of fics, so expect another fairly soon (hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself).
> 
> Thank you a ton for reading! Kudos, comments, bookmarks and subscriptions are all highly appreciated, and I'll hopefully see you soon! Bye, love you guys :)))


End file.
